A new law has gone into effect in Texas that requires parental approval for a child to create a social media account.
Parts of the SCOPE Act, or House Bill 18, took effect Sunday after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation last year.
During a committee hearing last year, Republican state Rep. Shelby Slawson cited threats that unsupervised social media use could pose to children, including cyberbullying and child predators, according to Fox 4.
“A Texas teenager was rescued from a shed in North Carolina where she was being held by a predator who allegedly lured her using a chat app,” she said.
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A new law has gone into effect in Texas that requires parental approval for a child to create a social media account. (Getty Images)
However, the law in its current form would not directly report these types of contacts, Fox 4 reported.
Last week, a judge blocked provisions that would have required social networks to filter harmful content. But the judge allowed parental consent requirements for a child to create an account and for parents to be allowed to supervise their child’s online activities.
Some social media companies have argued that there are already safeguards in place to protect children online.
“While we fully agree with the underlying intent of the bill, we oppose the bill as filed,” Antigone Davis, a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta, told Fox 4.
Parts of the SCOPE Act, or House Bill 18, went into effect Sunday. (Getty Images)
“We’ve built over 30 tools to help kids feel safe and have a positive experience on our platform,” Davis added. “We have parental guidance tools, time limits, and the ability for parents to see who’s following their child.”
At the same hearing last year, a representative for Meta testified that Facebook and Instagram already have safeguards in place to protect children and that teen accounts use AI to detect fake birthdates entered to create an account.
Meta also said it blocks targeted ads for a variety of topics on its platforms.
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Some social media companies have said there are already safeguards in place to protect children online. (Getty Images)
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Brian Dixon, a child psychiatrist with the Texas Medical Association, spoke at the hearing about what he has observed in his young patients regarding the impact of social media on their mental health.
“Today, kids have access to everything, all the time, with no filters. They have no idea when they’re being exposed to advertising and when they’re not,” he said.
Courts have blocked similar laws passed in other states aimed at regulating young people’s access to social media.
